My Gear
I have three cameras: an iPhone, a Nikon Coolpix (“point and shoot”) and a Sony A55 digital SLR with a mountable Rode microphone with a mini-boom for video and narratives.
I’ve had the Nikon for many years and it works just fine, really. Once I find my charger, all will be well.
Further, it’s nearly time to give up my iPhone for a dumb phone. I’ll keep the hardware, of course, because it can still tell time, take quick pictures, calculate, play music, record interviews and notes. I don’t need it to accept and make phone calls when to do so requires a data plan. For that I’ve got a netbook and Verizon external modem.
The main criteria that I used in selecting the Sony :
- It has to last a while, which meant the sensor quality had to be high.
- It must allow me to learn how to take pictures when I have time, but also take great spur of the moment photos when time is of the essence
- It must take reasonably good video for various web productions
The purpose of the gear is for my company Plainly Smart Media, LLC, which is producing several hundred specialized websites and moving into web productions. So you can see how fast reuse fees on photos would add up!
The Sony fit the bill perfectly and the kit included an 18-55mm lens. I added to that a fixed focus lens (I went with the 30mm) on the advice of my first photography guru, Maynard Switzer. His work is fantastic amazing and I’m grateful he made the course at so incredibly valuable.
All gear so far, I’ve purchased at B & H. I tried some of the other shops in Manhattan, but there weren’t any bargains to be had on this gear, so I went with the biggest store with the biggest selection. And, yes, THIS time, I did go with the warranty. I never go with the warranty. But, this time? Yup: it’s a business tool, not a toy.
BTW, on the last day before Passover, the line was about 500 people long at closing. They gave out candy and pop. Certainly, they could afford to, but it was a lovely touch. They are so efficient and so human intensive,–I will probably buy all my gear from there. Both times, the salesmen were highly knowledgeable and I felt completely happy with my purchase.
Originally, the big camera purchase was to be a proconsumer video camera that also took still. Thus, I took my time and tried to make the most practical decision possible. After a month of waiting for the Canon XA10, which every reviewer raved about, but no store seemed to have in stock, I decided to focus on first learning to shoot great (…well, at least *good*) photos, and then move up to video.
So, I ended up buying the Sony A55, mainly because it was fairly new ( voted camera of the year for 2010 ), had an interesting new technology and almost no one had anything bad to say about it at the level of the beginning photographer. In fact, the reviews were great.
I expect, it will remain in my Tenba bag for years to come. I splurged a bit on the Tenba, because this gear has to weather not only New York spring storms, but a 2 month trip to Ireland. It’s drizzle proof and has a nice side pocket for blocks of soda bread….
I also have another microphone for pod-casting, voice-overs and recording, but it’s an Audio Technica AT2020 Side Address Cardiod Condensor Studio Microphone, but only good for an indoor setup. I got a good deal on a kit through Amazon and it works just fine with a netbook.
I’m going to have to work a bit longer, but it’s finally time to get that MacBook Pro. Even though I have to take it on the road, I’ve decided to go with the top level 15″. It’s a lot bigger than the Toshiba NB305 Netbook I’ve been using (with an external monitor) for several years, but it comes with software that will carry me a long ways.
The reason not to go with the 13″ is that the 15″ has much better specs in terms of memory, video card and drive capacity, but more importantly, it has the Thunderbolt port. Again, this computer will be my workhorse and has to last a long time, plus be capable of a high level of Photoshop image processing in the near future.
So there you have it! That’s my gear!
[ update 4-27-2011 ]
I added two more lenses to my collection:
- Sony 50mm f/1.8
- Sony 75-200mm f/4,5-5.6
I know neither one is unduly impressive, but I LOVE the sharpness of the 50mm,–i can take perfectly great portraits with it. And, the zoom lens s pretty awesome.
The Sony camera guy was of the same mind when asked about the advisability of putting excruciatingly expensive lenses on my camera (as if): these lenses will do everything I need them to for a long, long time.